


He Didn’t... Did He?

by TheFoolsKnightober (TheFoolsKnight)



Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst and Feels, Book 5: City of Lost Souls, Heartbreak, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, page 511
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsKnight/pseuds/TheFoolsKnightober
Summary: Whumptober Day 12 - Broken TrustMagnus is subjected to heartbreak and denial when he finds a letter from Camille.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Whumptober 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947043
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	He Didn’t... Did He?

“Did he? I’m glad to hear that,” Magnus said, opening his fridge and pulling out a bottle of soda. 

“Yeah, he’s completely back to normal now,” came Alec’s voice through the phone, unbridled and satisfied, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Magnus had nothing to worry about, now. Alec’s parabatai was back with him. He would be fine.  _ They  _ would be fine. “I’ll come by at night.”

“Sure, I miss you,” Magnus said, taking a sip of the soda. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Great,” Alec said, and was it just Magnus’s imagination or did his voice sound a little strained? “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“I love you,” Magnus said quickly, his hand tightening around the cold bottle for a brief moment.

“I love you too,” Alec returned, just as fast, and Magnus relaxed. He was just worrying for no reason.

Alec cut the call, then, and Magnus sighed, sitting in one of the many couches in the living room and sinking back into the cushions. The past couple of weeks had been difficult for them, first with Camille and then Jace getting taken by Sebastian. But no one had heard from Camille for a long time, and Jace was back home. Magnus and Alec hadn’t had a single fight after the Battle at Burren. They’d be fine. For the last few weeks Magnus had been feeling as if he had been holding on to his boyfriend with only a thin string, the tension between them infallible. He remembered the way Alec held on to him the night of the battle, after they’d taken care of Jace and any other formalities and finally retired to sleep, the way Alec’s hands would brush across the place where Magnus’s wound had been, making sure that he was alright. They’d fallen asleep after laying in silence for a long, long time, and by the time Magnus woke up, Alec was still there, awake and looking at him with tired blue eyes.

They would be fine.

After watching a couple of hours of Project Runway and making an appointment with a client for the next day, Magnus got up and went to his study. He couldn’t put off his work forever, of course, and planned to make the potion that one of the werewolves had asked for. However, any plans of working flew right out of the window when Magnus saw the letter on his desk, addressed to him in a familiar crisp handwriting. Perhaps he had spoken too soon about not hearing from Camille. 

Magnus took a deep breath and sat at the desk, picking up the letter and slowly opening it. Whatever Camille wanted from him, it couldn’t be good.

_ Dear Magnus,  _ the letter read.

_ I’m writing to you because, though we may have had a bad past together, I still care for you and wish you well. Consider this a repayment for all the good things you’ve done for me. This matter, I’m afraid, concerns your Nephilim boyfriend. _

Magnus frowned at that, and though he was still wary of Camille’s words, he read on, a twinge of curiosity already having taken its place in his heart.

_ You see, he has been meeting me for a while now, asking after a possibility to make you - I’m afraid I’ll have to say this indelicately - mortal. I denied giving him any knowledge, and when he persisted, asked of him a payment he couldn’t offer. He still visits me, of course, asking for some very personal details about you that I’m not sure I could share. It’s clear that he doesn’t have your best interests at heart, and I’m worried that he may hurt you. I just wanted to bring this to your attention. Take care, Magnus. _

_ Yours, Camille. _

By the time he was done reading the letter, Magnus’s hands were shaking, and his heart was breaking into the million little pieces.

_ Alexander?  _ My _ Alexander? _

Surely Alec wouldn’t have done all this, right?

Magnus read through the letter again, and this time his eyes fell on the footnote, written in a tiny script at the bottom of the paper -  _ If you don’t believe me, then come see for yourself,  _ it said, followed by an address, and a date and time. The address was of an old subway tunnel, and the date and time, Magnus noted, were early tomorrow morning. His throat felt dry -  _ too  _ dry. Magnus summoned another soda from the fridge and downed it in a few gulps.

Then he read through the letter again, several times, trying to make sense of it. Camille loved to twist the truth, so maybe it wasn’t entirely true - but nonetheless, was it the truth? He didn’t know. He didn’t  _ want  _ to know.

“Magnus?”

Magnus jumped when he heard Alec’s voice from the living room - he must’ve come back from the institute. With a flick of his hand, the letter was banished to one of the drawers in his desk, and Magnus took a moment to calm down before he replied.

“Yes, darling?” His voice came out shakier than he’d anticipated, but Alec, who was already in the doorway with a smile on his face, didn’t seem to notice.

Alec shrugged. “I’m home, but I guess you can already see that.”

Magnus chuckled and stood up, walking over to Alec and kissing him. His lips were a little cold, probably from the wind outside, but Magnus saw to that. He wrapped his arms around Alec, kissing him with all he had.

As they pulled away, Magnus felt his heart just a little more.

Alec’s hand came up, brushing across the front of his shirt, and then Magnus’s heart broke some more.

“Are you feeling okay?” Alec asked, looking at him through his thick, dark lashes. Magnus still couldn’t believe that Alec would do something like that. A part of him didn’t want to believe it. But then he remembered Alec’s shifty eyes, all his incongruous disappearances, the vague replies whenever Magnus asked him about where he had been, and couldn’t help but wonder…

He’d have to see for himself, then.

Later that night, Magnus couldn’t sleep at all, and instead kept his eyes on the clock nearby. Then, early in the morning, Alec silently got out of bed and kissed Magnus’s forehead before dressing up and leaving the room, not noticing Magnus’s eyes that tracked his movements. 

Magnus waited a few more minutes until he heard the silent click of the front door closing, his heart breaking some more and making it harder for him to breathe. Then he got out of bed himself, pulled on his clothes and a coat, and followed after Alec.


End file.
